There are a lot of things I have not yet done in the area. I still haven't been to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, nor have I been to the Detroit Institute of Arts, which is now featuring "Monet to Dali." There's a ton of stuff in Ann Arbor I have not explored; for example there's the Gerald Ford Library (although the Internet has revolutionized such places -- see this collection of declassified Vietnam War documents, for example.)

Then there are less well known venues. I have not been to the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (aka CAID), and even though I'm turned off by much of what passes for "contemporary art," events like their upcoming Halloween Funk Night Event on Friday the 31st look exciting!

FUNK NIGHT - Friday, October 31, 2008

We are happy to announce that all charges against the CAID's members have been dropped regarding the incident which took place on May 31, 2008 -during Funk Night. To celebrate we would like to invite YOU to come out and dance on Halloween at our Funk Night Revival party from 12AM-5AM. Door prizes for all who dress as a police officer for Halloween.

We will be showing the entire video from all surveillance cameras recorded during the illegal police raid on the CAID on May 31.

The understaffed and overworked Detroit Police Department raised eyebrows in May when its officers conducted a SWAT-like raid on young hipsters at a small west-side art gallery.

Cops issued 116 tickets for "loitering in a place of illegal occupation" and confiscated 44 cars. Police said the gallery sold beer and wine illegally.

Last month, the city agreed to drop all charges after American Civil Liberties Union attorneys argued that the Detroit nuisance ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and the cops had no probable cause.

The office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, though, has taken a hard line on the impounded cars. Patrons who paid the standard $900 fee to retrieve their vehicles are out of luck. Their money won't be refunded, and the several people whose cars remain impounded still must pay the $900, plus towing and daily storage costs.

If that sounds harsh, consider the case of Jerome Price, a family therapist from Ferndale. After he paid the prosecutor $900 to get back the car his 19-year-old son drove to the gallery that night, someone stole the car while it sat in the impound lot at Boulevard & Trumbull Towing in Detroit.

"I've called the prosecutor's office numerous times," Price said. "They never called me back."

Price won't be getting his money back either, said Worthy spokeswoman Maria Miller. She said the vehicle seizure -- called forfeiture -- is a civil action that is separate from the criminal case and has a different standard of proof.

"Also," Miller said, "the purpose of the nuisance ordinance is remedial in nature and designed to discourage continuing nuisance behavior."

The ACLU is challenging the seizure of the cars on behalf of nine patrons whose cars remain impounded.

Michael Steinberg, the ACLU's Michigan legal director, called the car seizures "a comedy of errors" and "the ultimate Motor City shakedown."

He added: "It's mystifying why they insist on proceeding with these cases."

$900.00 for towing?

Bear in mind that most of the patrons were students:

The raid took place after 2 a.m. May 31 at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit on Rosa Parks Boulevard during a popular monthly dance party for members only called Funk Night. Heavily armed police dressed in black uniforms and masks stormed the small space. Witnesses reported police forcing people to the floor at gunpoint. Some patrons described officers as abusive.

Most of the patrons were college students or recent graduates. Police found no weapons, drugs or fugitives with outstanding warrants.

The raid took place after 2 a.m. May 31 at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit on Rosa Parks Boulevard during a popular monthly dance party for members only called Funk Night. Heavily armed police dressed in black uniforms and masks stormed the small space. Witnesses reported police forcing people to the floor at gunpoint. Some patrons described officers as abusive.

Most of the patrons were college students or recent graduates. Police found no weapons, drugs or fugitives with outstanding warrants.

Price said officials at Boulevard & Trumbull told him his car, a 1996 Chevy Corsica with 130,000 miles, was driven through a fence. June Lee, B & T's chief operating officer, confirmed Price's story.

Miller said Price's remedy is to sue B & T for the value of the car, which Price has done. Lee said the company is trying to work out a settlement.

Said Price: "My biggest problem is my kid was put facedown with a shotgun pointed at him" during the raid.

It is common to seize vehicles actually used in prostitution and drug cases. But several attorneys questioned how the prosecutor can forfeit cars belonging to people who simply used them to get to what many thought was a private party.

"Using the nuisance statute appears to be quite a stretch considering the cars were just driven to the gallery," said Jorin Rubin, a defense attorney and expert on forfeiture law.

Said the ACLU's Steinberg: "It just illustrates the purpose behind raids is to make money."

If I go to a damned museum for an event and they sell me a beer, it isn't my problem if they didn't get the proper license, any more than it's my problem whether the guy who cuts my hair has a frigging barber's license. Perhaps this makes me an anarchist, but the idea of being raided by a SWAT team, having a gun pointed at my head and losing my car to a bunch of theives after paying a $900 "civil forfeiture" fee to get it out is just outrageous. By any standard.

Trick or treat, anyone?

Maybe I should just stay home and send a Halloween check to the ACLU.